So cute it hurts

I am usually very frugal in my spending on professional pictures of the kids. I have a system that I stick to. They get a 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, 12 month and 18 month picture taken, and then after that they get one annually around their birthdays. We have a great place near us that offers a $10 package for one shot that gives us more than enough prints for all our family and friends. That's all I allow myself to get...except today.

Today, I took all the kids in to get a picture of them together and one for Kate's 3 month scheduled picture. The kids were grumpy this morning, Grace skinned her knee on the way out to the car, Joost didn't want to tuck in his shirt--I was sure it was going to be a disastrous event.

But it wasn't. The kids were smiling cooperative champions and the photographer was able to get a ton of beautiful shots of them all. So, I caved and bought more than I planned on doing--a shot of each one of them and a picture of the three of them together. (I think I've become a bit more sentimental since Kate's birth. "Pictures like this great might not happen again..." "They're growing up so fast...") And the best part of it all--the extravagance included a disc with every picture taken on it. So you get to enjoy them, too. Here are some of my favorites....